Photomanipulation Advices

May 15, 201110 min read

Deviation Actions

Published: May 15, 2011

3K Views

Do you make Photomanipulations? or Do you are a beginner?

_{First of all, im not an expert but i have got skills with the time, and I just wanna help you, giving you some adivices to make you grow up as a Photomanipulator, also some of this advices can be useful for an Artist in General.}

Choosing the Concept :

_{This could be the most difficult part of all. So don’t despair if you are lack of ideas, because you know, it doesn’t have to be a revolutionary concept or even a new one.  What I do is try to express feelings and more things with my images, for example:

Bravery,  Perseverance & Hope:

Temptation, Love & Faith:

Also you can always use your mood, if you are happy, you can make a photomanipulation of a place/ situation that you’d like be, Example:  “a person walking next to the waves of a quiet and sunny beach, with an open sky and a sailboat far in the ocean” See? Choosing the concept can be easy, the possibilities are infinite all depends of you.}

How to Choose the Stock Images?

_{The stock images are the raw material that all the photomanipulators use to create their own image. And is called a photomanipulation, when you blend together more than 2 images.
Now that you decide the concept, try to visualize it in your mind (sometimes in the end, it doesn’t going to be as you imagined it, sometimes is much better!). I hardly recommend you to use more than 3 or 4 images for your first photomanipulation. The basic parts of a photomanipulation are: Ground, Sky, Subject & sometimes Secondary Subject.

Using the last concept, I’m going to show you what Stock Images, I would use to do it and why.

Subject:

I selected the girl because, she is looking to the viewer, and is beautiful, the perspective is nice and her body position is attractive. But no all is nice…did you see that the photographer cut a part of her right foot? That’s something to take in account, because you’re going to have to fill that part in the future and is not easy. Another thing the resolution is huge! (This is good) and; it has a lot of noise (bad thing), but don’t worry, you’re almost a photomanipulator and our job is fix, improve and create wonderful images using parts of other images! .The solution is easy in photoshop “Filter/Noise/Reduce Noise.

Ground:
:thumb186786195:
The concept is sunny beach remember? That’s why I selected it, because the sand is illuminated by the sun. I will be weird if is a sunny day and the image that you used was taken in a cloudy/stormy day.

Sky:

The same of “Ground” but also, Do you remember where is the light of the sun in the Girl’s Image? Is in the left well, in this image the sun or light is in the same position.

The Light and Shadows’s direction are so important that can be the difference between of a wonderful manip or a piece of shit. The Girl’s back is illuminated, so imagine if I use a sky stock that doesn’t have a source of light?.

Let’s talk about the shadow that you are going to put in the image, because you have a sun isn’t it? Then you have to put a shadow and determine the direction depending of the direction of the sun, in this case the sun is behind and in the left of the girl, so we are going to put the shadow in front of her and in the right, Is just the opposite position of the light’s resource, always remember it . Now look carefully in the Girl’s Image, in her feet to be exactly, Can you see the shadow? Is a soft shadow why? Because the intensity of the light is also soft.

Secondary Subject:

The secondary subject in the image is almost always small and is far in the distance, can be birds flying in the sky or in this case a little boat in the ocean, but remember the rules of light and shadow apply also here, don’t ruin your photomanip with this little mistakes.}

Where Can I Get the Stocks Images?

_{These are some websites that I used to find the stocks, they are free, but remember free doesn’t mean that they belong to you; you have to ask sometimes for permission to use them. Remember always credit the owner of the stock in your description. If you don’t, the owner can make you delete the file, because he has the ©Copyright Rights. So be careful in what you do or not. Just Follow the Owner’s Rules.
DeviantArt: browse.deviantart.com/resource…
Morguefile: www.morguefile.com/
Dreamstime: www.dreamstime.com/free-photos
Stock.xhng: www.sxc.hu/}

And How I Blend Them?

_{Well I can’t really make a step by step tutorial right now, but there are some many places where you can learn, and they are very well explained, better than I could do it.
Night-Fate has one of the best tutorials on DeviantArt: night-fate.deviantart.com/gall…
Here you have tutorial of all kind of art:
photoshoptutorials.ws/photosho… psd.tutsplus.com/}

How to Improve my Image?

_{Right know you’re almost done, know that you have all blended, you can use the tools that can significantly improve your work. Actions and Brushes!!

Brushes: They came in a lot of different shapes and for specific task, for example: skin texture, clouds, blood, planets, hair and whatever you can imagine. You can find them here: browse.deviantart.com/resource…

Actions: They are automatic steps for Photoshop or effects if you want to call them of another way. And they are one the most useful things you are going to find, because your normal image can be Awesome in one Click! .You can find them here: browse.deviantart.com/resource…}

:thumb97804939:

What Do I Write in the Image’s Description

_{Easy! These are the Questions:
Why do you made? About what do you made it? How long does it take? What was the most difficult part? Which stocks do you used?}

Don’t Forget It

_{- The Light in the stocks has to be the almost equal
- The Position of the Shadows is the Opposite of the Lights’ Resource Position
- Always Credit the Stock’s Owner
- Use Actions & Brushes to improve your work}

And the Most Important:

- When you think you finish, believe me you’re just in the half-way!

Do your Best! and Bye for a While